The Null Device

2001/12/28

Soon, batteries may be made of used coffee grounds; researchers at Sony have discovered a way of using the waste grounds as raw materials for battery manufacturing. This will help to reuse waste, and also cut the manufacturing cost of batteries by up to 10%.

Today I picked up two CDs: the most recent one from Trembling Blue Stars
(which is getting better than his previous ones, with nods to The Cure and
The Smiths in evidence and some interesting electronic textures (though his
drum loops still sound a bit Phil Collins in places); however, it's not
quite up to the Field Mice's standard IMHO), and the new Silver Mt. Zion
(which comes with a rant about the state of the world, and isn't quite as
overbearingly morose as the first one; not that that's a bad thing).

Surprise, surprise: You know that company that, for a sum of money
(insignificant compared to immortality) will name a star after you, your
loved one, your dog or whatever? Well, what they don't tell you is that
nobody else
recognises those names; in other words, astronomers will not start referring
to gaseous interstellar objects as "Joey Bloggs" or "Fluffy the Wonderhamster"
or whatever just because you were gullible enough to part with US$48.
Still, the scam has taken in many po'buckers, and some high-flyers including
Nicole Kidman. (Who'd have thought she'd be gullible enough to buy
into such hairbrained schemes?)